Winterreise

Posted: November 15th, 2008 | Author: soeren | Filed under: Privat | Tags: Family, Germany, Intercultural, Travel | No Comments »

This year in early december my parents in law will visit us in Germany for the first time. Everybody involved is looking forward to it and as it is their first time in Germany (and Europe) we will take them on a round trip through Germany. We will stay in Munich, Berchtesgaden, Leipzig, Berlin. In between we visit Rothenburg o.b.T., Neuschwanstein. Salzburg (ok, that is Austria) and Dresden. 

On the days before and after the roundtrip, my parents and us take them on tours in and around Dortmund (Cologne, Münster, Düsseldorf, some “castles”, Aachen). By the time they are leaving they should be pretty fed up with “old stones” and the likes. Although some “can’t-miss” sites are on the list, we avoided to follow the travel advice for Americans on Nothing for Ungood.

 

Größere Kartenansicht

It will be interesting to see how they will handle all the new information and the cultural differences. My guesses are

• The roundtrip will deliver an extreme amount of impressions that makes the different places blur into each other. The same thing happened on our road trip through the US this year. 
• The densely settled urban areas we will spent most time in (Ruhr Area and Berlin) will be intimidating and appear unaccessible at first. That includes the sheer amount of people, their mix and the stark social contrasts. A trip on the “RegionalExpress” (regional train) from Dortmund to Düsseldorf should deliver all of that in less than a day.
• Everything in between might appear either completely exotic or disappointingly similar. Judging from my own memory of my first weeks in the US some things of little relevance appear amazingly different, at least to the visitor (water levels in toilets) while on the other hand people here and there pretty much share the same everyday problems and pleasures.

Now, despite all the likely stress that comes from cultural adjustment, I am perfectly convinced that this will be a nice trip for my parents-in-law as well as for us. Actually, I am looking forward to go back to experience “culture shock” by proxy, as wifey’s introduction to the country is six years in the past and she is perfectly integrated now.

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